


The Blue Spirit

by Irrelevant86



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: He's unofficially one of them now, Protective Zuko (Avatar), The spirits have totally adopted Zuko, Zuko basically becomes a cryptid accidentally, Zuko becomes the blue spirit, Zuko defects from the Fire Nation after his banishment, Zuko is an ackward turtleduck, Zuko is distrustfull of most adults, and fuck Ozai, covers the events of the three years that Zuko is banished for before Aang shows up on the scene, majorly au, not all adults but most adults, they support their awkward angry little turtleduck, zuko says fuck the 100 year war
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:15:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25322983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Irrelevant86/pseuds/Irrelevant86
Summary: Zuko realizes early on in his banishment the truth, doubts his uncle cares because adults can't be trusted, and decides he’s not going to go on a fool's quest. He sees that the fire nation is wrong and he will put a stop to it, and will right the wrongs done to the world by the Fire Nation. He becomes the blue spirit full time and just… goes to town.
Comments: 86
Kudos: 1066
Collections: A:tla, The Best of Zuko





	1. The Birth of a Spirit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KidWestHope16](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KidWestHope16/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or any of it’s characters. I’m just borrowing them for a bit.  
> AN: This story is based off of KidWestHope16 {on AO3} story Atla AU outlines to write later chapters 5 {Road Trip au Atla verse} and chapter 9 {Snippet and more outline}.

_~(^.^)~_

**_The Blue Spirit_ **

_Chapter One: The Birth of a Spirit_

_~(^.^)~_

His whole body hurts, every part of him feels like it’s on fire, especially his face where his father had burned him. And lying there in his bed in the infirmary of the Wani, all he can think of is just how much he hates his father. He’s had three weeks of lying in this bed healing to think over his situation, to think over the horrible injustice that was done to him. 

And he’s come to a conclusion, his father will never love, let alone care, for him. His father burned off half his face and then banished him. And what’s worse the man was cruel enough to give him the inkling of a hope of being able to return home all the while knowing that it would never come true because the Avatar was gone. His father knew there was no way Zuko would ever be able to find the avatar because the avatar had been dead and gone for a hundred years. His father did not want him back, he’d sent him on a fools quest with the hope that it would keep Zuko distracted for the rest of his life and away from him. 

And he realized something else lying there in that bed. Everything he’s ever been told about the war, about the fire nation... it was all a lie. They weren’t spreading their greatness to the rest of the world. They weren’t making the world a better place by continuing this war and invading the other nations. They were just destroying the world. The Fire Nation had committed genocide against the air nomads, a group of pacifists. They had killed every last one of them, including the helpless children. 

And then they had gone after the water tribe in the South Pole, taking away and imprisoning all their water benders. And they had begun to do the same in the Earth Kingdom. His people, his father, where not allowing people to bend their natural element if that element was not fire. And spirits was that wrong, and just so unnatural. While lying there in his bed he could swear that he could just feel the unbalance of the world around him due to the damage his Nation had done over the past hundred years. 

And then his mind would inevitably wander to the 41st division. He knew his failure in the Agni Kai meant that all those eager young soldiers of the 41st where doomed to die. He’d stood up in that war room to defend them, to try and protect them against the General who was so ready to just callously throw away their lives like they were nothing. And looking back on those moments in that war room, from the look on his fath... on Ozai’s face, Ozai had approved whole heartedly with the plan. He’d been so ready to fight for those men, to protect them that he’d just jumped right into an Agni Kai without stopping to think through the situation. But at the time all he could think was ‘if I beat this man in an Agni Kai then they won’t send those soldiers off to die like they’re nothing’. And then He’d been faced with his father in the Agni Kai and not the general he’d called out, and he just couldn’t bring himself to fight his own father. He’d failed the 41st division... and the rest of the world.

Over the past three weeks as he healed, a plan began to form in his head of just how he could fix his failings and regain his honor. He would end the fire nations reign of terror over the world, but first he would have to escape this ship. He didn’t trust anyone on board, not even his uncle. For all he knew they were all loyal to Ozai and where there to keep an eye on him and spy on him for Ozai. 

He waited till he was healed enough that he could move around again without being in pain before he made his escape. They’d been docked near a fire nation colony deep in the Earth Kingdom when he finally decided it was time to take his leave of the Wani. He waited till the middle of the night, when everyone but a few guards were asleep, before he slipped from his bed in the infirmary. He quietly moved through the shadows of the halls of the Wani and to his room, where he grabbed his dao swords, and the blue spirit mask that his uncle had given him on the last summer solstice festival they’d been to before his fateful Agni Kai. Then he went too where they kept the messenger Hawks, and sent off a Hawk with a letter for his sister. He didn't go into to much detail in his letter, all he said was that he refused to go on some futile fools quest, that he still loved her and would one day come back for her. He watched the Hawk fly off, and then he’d slipped out of the Wani, like a spirit in the night, and disappeared into the forest. 

And so, Prince Zuko, son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai, grandson of Fire Lord Azulon, brother of princess Azula, nephew of General Iroh ‘The Dragon of the West’, and heir to the throne of the Fire Nation, became the blue spirit. 


	2. Our Spirit’s journey begins in a little Earth Kingdom village

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took forever to do. I kept rewriting this over and over. Adding little things here and there, and deleting different parts. It was driving me crazy all day. But I think I finally got it the way I want it!!! I also went back to the last chapter and made a small change to the end of the chapter. It was only like two sentences that I added, and it wasn't really to much of a change honestly just basically adding in the fact that Zuko sent a letter to his sister before leaving the Wani.

_~(^.^)~_

**_The Blue Spirit_ **

_Chapter Two: Our Spirit’s journey begins in a little Earth Kingdom village_

_~(^.^)~_

Zuko didn’t want word of the Prince of the Fire Nation being in a town or an area to reach back to Uncle Iroh or back home to Ozai. He didn’t want either of them knowing just yet that he’d defected to the other side. That he was technically a traitor to his nation. And he knew that the people of the other nations would never accept his help if they knew who he was or even just that he was a fire bender in general. 

They’d be more likely to turn on him the moment he’d finished helping them than to let him leave after helping. Or try to imprison him for ransom, or just out right kill him for his nations crimes against their people. And honestly he wouldn’t have blamed any of them if they had. The Fire Nation had started a war with the whole world and had to tried to take over. They’d been responsible for so many people dying. So many families being split apart. For the death of an entire nation, and people not being allowed to openly bend their natural element without the fear of being arrested or killed.

So, he wore the mask of the blue Spirit as a disguise, and stayed silent so that no one would be able to recognize his face or voice. He used the dual Dao swords as his weapon instead of fire bending so people wouldn’t know he was a fire bender. He’d even cut off his phoenix-tail because it had the potential to give away who he was. He’d stared at the cut off hair for several moments afterwards, morning the loss of his life before. But then he’d dropped the hair in a stream and kept on going. He clothed himself in dark black clothing, a hood pulled up over his head, and the Blue Spirit Mask placed firmly in front of his face, and his Dao swords on his back. This was the only way he could actually be of use, the only way he could help people.

He didn’t plan for people to mistake him for a spirit, all he wanted was to stop the war and protect people while keeping his identity a secret. So, if the people he encountered want to believe he’s some kind of spirit instead of the banished fire prince, then he’s not going to try to correct them. 

The first place he winds up after fleeing the Wani, is a small Earth Kingdom village not that far from the port he’d left. He gets there just as the sun crests the horizon, and just in time to see a group of fire nation soldiers invade the village. He makes a split second decision to save the village, and comes charging out of the trees, knocking down Fire Nation soldiers left and right. His Dao swords swing through the air like twin blurs, breaking the soldiers stances, and knocking them on their asses. But he doesn’t kill, no he just puts the fear of the spirits in them. He kicks the crap out of them and sends them running for the hills. 

To the villagers all they see is this figure in black with a blue and white grinning face with duel dao swords in hand come charging out of the forest surround by mist and a halo of morning sunshine. The villagers just watch as this figure moves like lightning around the Fire Nation soldiers, knocking them to the ground and sending them running for the hills.

All the soldiers remember is that one minute they’d been ready to invade a village and take over. Then the next moment this small figure had emerged from the trees, Agni shining down on him. And suddenly it was like all the strength and fire had left them. Almost like Agni himself had taken away his gift from them. Or like the spirit before them had taken their strength from them, absorbed it, and had used it against them. 

And in a way, they had been right on both counts. Agni has always watched over his children. He’s always loved them and wanted what’s best for them. But he’d grown weary and angry with his children for what they’d done to the world using his gift to them. And he was extremely angry with Ozai for what he’d done to his own son. 

So, when Zuko had made his silent vow to end the war, right the wrongs of his nation, and restore balance to the world, Agni had rejoiced. But he knew that Zuko would never be able to do it all on his own, and he knew the boy had a tendency to rush into situations head first without thinking. 

When Zuko ran into that village to face down the soldiers, Agni had come to his aid, knowing that there was no way Zuko would be able to take on an entire battalion of soldiers on his own otherwise. He’d bathed Zuko in his light pouring all his energy and strength into the boy, while depriving the soldiers of it at the same time. 

After the fight was done and the village had been saved, Zuko took off into the forest as fast as possible. He didn’t really want to stick around and have people crowd around him in thanks. And he was still feeling very wary of any adults. 

That day the villagers had a statue of The Blue Spirit made and placed in the center of the village. From that day on the people of the village prayed to The Blue Spirit for just about anything. Shrines where built in his honor and offerings of food where made to the shrines. They would tell anyone outside of the village who would listen about the mysterious spirit that had saved them then disappeared. 

Not that Zuko knew anything about this. He just kept on moving. Not staying in one place for too long. Freeing villages and fighting soldiers along the way. Fighting injustice anywhere he found it, and protecting innocent people everywhere he went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So while writing this chapter I realized that Zuko is still a 13 year old boy, who has just finished recovering from a major burn injury to his face, that left him lying in a hospital bed for weeks and partially blind in one eye. Which meant there was no way in hell he should have been able to kick the crap out of an entire battalion of soldiers on his own. So I had to come up with a way for that to be possible. And so the idea of Agni favoring Zuko, and lending him his {and the soldier's} strength so he could beat them was born.


	3. Visions in a swamp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter kicked my ass. I knew exactly what I wanted to happen in this chapter, I just couldn't seem to get it written out properly. But I think I've got it the way I want it now. Hope y'all enjoy.

_~(^.^)~_

**_The Blue Spirit_ **

_Chapter Three: Visions in a Swamp_

_~(^.^)~_

**_One Month Later_ **

Zuko had been trapezing through the Earth Kingdom for a month now, rescuing villages from being taken over by soldiers, and even freeing a few villages that had already been taken over. And every time he would take off from the village before any of the villagers could speak to him. Every time the villagers would build statues of the Blue Spirit and place it in the center of their town, and they would build shrines to the ‘spirit’ that saved them. They’d leave offerings to the spirit in their shrines to him, and would pray to him for protection.

And Zuko would hear their prayers whispered in his ears. He tried not to pay attention to it to much. Honestly, he just thought that he’d gone a little crazy after having half his face burned off. So, he ignored the whispered voices and just kept on moving. And every now and then, when he was sure that he’d run out of food, he would find some in one of his pockets or in his bag. Food that he was sure hadn’t been there a few moments before. But he decided to just dismissed it as having forgotten about what food he’d had on him. But really he was receiving all the food offerings that people had been leaving at the Blue Spirit shrines.

And then one day he found himself in the middle of a large swamp. The trees where so tall that he could barely see the tops of them, and they blocked out almost all light. Even the roots where taller than him. The place had an eerie feel to it that left him looking over his shoulder every few seconds. The only good thing about the swamp was the catogators, which seemed to love him. Everywhere he turned there was a catogators following him. Not that he minded them following him all that much.

He managed to get himself lost in the swamp. All the trees looked the same and he got turned around. He wasn’t really sure how long he wandered through the swamp. Several times he could have sworn that he’d seen his mom standing in the water or on a tree root out of the corner of his eye. But when he would turn to look she wouldn’t be there. All he would find was empty air, or a broken tree stump.

Then one night as he was trying to sleep he caught sight of a small figure jumping through the trees. It was the first sign of life; besides the catogators, he’d seen since wandering into the swamp. So, he chased after the figure. The figure was quick, and seemed to disappear behind one tree and reappear behind another. The figures clothes reminded him of a painting he’d seen once of the air nomads. And the figure had a bald head with a bright blue arrow tattoo just like the air nomads in the painting. A child like laughter filled the swamp as the figure jumped and flitted through the trees. He followed the figure through the swamp, unwilling to loose sight of the first person he’d seen in this place.

And then suddenly he found himself standing at the base of a very large tree. A tree bigger than all the other trees in the swamp. The biggest tree he’d ever seen in is entire life. And the figure was standing on one of the tree’s roots, staring at him giving him his first good look at the figure.

It was a boy, probably his age maybe even a year or so younger. He wore the outfit of an air nomad, and had air nomad tattoos, and in his hand he held a wooden staff. The boy laughed causing his whole face to light up. And then suddenly the boy vanished, dissolved into nothingness, leaving Zuko standing there, at the base of the large tree, very confused.

“Hello there.”

Zuko jumped back from the tree in surprise and glanced up to see a heavy set older man in a leaf skirt of sorts standing on a branch above him. The man, Huu, invited him up into the tree, and he listened as the man explained that the swamp was just one big tree. That the tree they where standing on was the center of the swamp, and that the swamp, like all things in the world, where connected. And he told him how sometimes the swamp gave people visions. Visions of people they lost, and even visions of people they would one day meet. He had to say he didn’t quite care for the visions.

Huu invited him to stay with the rest of his tribe for a short while, and Zuko warily agreed with a nod of his head. He spent the next two weeks in the swamp with the swamp benders tribe. Though most of his time was spent lying on the ground by the center tree with catogators lying on top of him. When he wasn’t chilling in a catogators pile he watched the swamp benders, taking in the way they bent. Their forms and how they moved. He would copy their movements, memorizing them, and turning them into new ways he could use for his fire bending.

Huu’s statement that all things in life where connected had resonated deeply with him. If all things where connected, then that meant that the elements where all connected. The nations lived separately, dividing themselves by what element they were. But the elements were interconnected. You couldn’t really have one without the other. So, constricting oneself to learning only one form based on what element you bent didn’t make sense. And he realized that combining fire bending forms with water bending forms could give him an advantage over others.

He found himself enjoying his time with the swamp benders. But he knew he couldn’t stay in the swamp with them forever. The rest of the world needed him. They needed him to stop this war. And the swamp benders seemed to sense that his time with them was over. So, they lead him to the edge of the swamp one day. He said a silent goodbye to the people he’d come to know over the past two weeks, then took off back into the heart of the Earth Kingdom. Back into the Earth Kingdom to liberate some villages that the Fire Nation had no right to be in…


	4. The Northern Air Temple

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter should have been out yesterday. But I was so busy this weekend that I didn't manage to get it fully typed up by the end of Monday night. The only reason I managed to finish this chapter today was because I've been put into quarantine after being potentially exposed to Covid on Sunday.   
> Warning: Just so you all know, this chapter will have a brief mention of decomposed bodies {including the dead decomposing bodies of children} and how they where killed. That's mentioned in the second pharagraph of this chapter, so if you don't think you can handle reading that part you can skip it. Just wanted to make sure everyone was properly warned before hand!!!

_~(^.^)~_

**_The Blue Spirit_ **

_Chapter Four: The Northern Air Temple_

_~(^.^)~_

After leaving the swamp Zuko decided that he wanted to see the Air temples. He wanted to see with his own eyes the damage his nation had done to them and the people who used to live there. He decided to start off with the Northern Air Temple. It took him three weeks of traveling to reach the temple. What he found broke his heart. Skeletons laid all over the place, some big, some so incredibly small, some wore Airbender clothes, and others wore Fire Nation uniforms.

But it was the tiny little skeletons in Airbender clothes that really broke his heart the most. Tiny little skeletons with tiny little hands and feet. And the clothes those tiny little skeletons wore where singed and filled with holes made by fire. There was even charring on some of the bones in some places where the fire blasts had burnt all the way down to the bone. He felt bile rise up his throat at the sight, and he had to quickly pull the Blue Spirit mask away from his face to throw up.

The whole temple was filled with the discarded bodies of Airbenders and Fire Nation soldiers alike. Bodies that had just been callously left to rot on the ground without proper burial rights on either side. As he looked over the skeletons he knew exactly what he had to do. He had to bury these people. There was no way he was going to leave this temple with all these bodies still lying on the ground as they were.

So, he got to work, digging graves, and carefully moving the skeletons. As he moved the bodies into the graves he created, he could swear that he could see spirits fliting around him. And he could swear that he could hear the whispers of voices thanking him. He worked through the day, moving and burying bodies. It took him two weeks to bury all the bodies. And somehow, once he was finished the air around the temple seemed to lighten.

He wanted to stay and look around the temple, but somehow staying in the empty temple without its proper residents around felt wrong. But as he was preparing to leave the empty temple the sound of voices coming up the mountain side reached him. He ducked behind a wall and watched as a large group of people in Earth Kingdom clothing marched up the mountain towards the temple. There were at least sixty or so people, all of them carrying bags full of clothes, food, and belongings. At the front of the group of people was an older man with patchy eyebrows and a boy in a wooden wheelchair.

It took him a minute to realize that these people where probably refugees. Refugees with no home and no place to go. He watched them as they looked around the Air Temple and then began settling in in the court yard. They began setting up tents and fire pits throughout the court yard. Some of the people spread out through the temple looking at all the statues and paintings and things. And then one of them stumbled upon the fresh graves. There was a slight panic among the group of refugees as they realized that the fresh graves meant that someone had been in the temple recently. But the older man with the patchy eyebrows was able to calm the people down by mentioning that they hadn’t found anyone during their look through the temple nor had they come across anyone while traveling up the mountain.

Zuko decided to stick around the temple for a little while, just to make sure that these people wouldn’t run into any problems while settling into their new home. And he was glad that he did stick around because a few days after the refugees found the temple, a group of Fire Nation soldiers came marching up the mountain side and started harassing them.

Zuko felt rage at the sight. These people had probably lost their home due to the Fire Nation, and all they wanted was a safe place to live. Not to mention what had happened to the people of this temple the last time Fire Nation soldiers had been here. There was no way he was going to stand by and let these soldiers harm these people. The soldiers weren’t prepared for him to come flying out of the trees, dao swords swinging, and rage practically radiating off him.

The fight didn’t last long, and the soldiers went running after having their asses thoroughly handed to them. And for the first time since he started saving people from Fire Nation soldiers, Zuko didn’t run off right afterwards. This time, he turned to face the refugees who he’d just protected. They where all staring up at him with wide scared eyes. He quickly sheathed his Dao, and gave the people a deep bow. The sound of wooden wheels rolling towards him made him look up to find the boy in the wooden wheelchair had rolled up to him.

“Thank you for helping us,” The boy whispered, staring up at him.

Zuko kneeled down so he was at eye level with the boy, and nodded his head in reply.

“I’m Teo,” The boy introduced, smiling widely at Zuko.

Zuko paused for a moment, unsure of how to answer the boy. He wasn’t going to talk, but he could write his name in the dirt. The only problem was he couldn’t provide his real name, not without possibly revealing who he truly was to these people. But then he remembered the mask he was wearing, the Blue Spirit mask. He reached down to the ground and drew a few characters in the dirt. Teo stared down at the name written before him for a moment before looking back up at Zuko. It looked like he was about to say something when the older man with the patchy eyebrows stepped towards them.

Zuko startled at the sudden movement, and took off to the trees ignoring Teo as he called for him to come back. He staid hidden in the shadows of the temple for a few more days, making sure that the soldiers wouldn’t come back with reinforcements. Once he was sure that the refugees would be safe, he took off down the mountain and away from the Northern Air Temple.

What he didn’t know was that the group of refugee’s, just like the people in the other places he’d been to and saved, shortly after he left had made and put up a statue of the Blue Spirit in the center of the court yard. And the soldiers he’d run off had spread word throughout the neighboring towns and to anyone that would listen that the Northern Air Temple was guarded by an angry vicious spirit who didn’t like Fire Nation soldiers being on the temple grounds. And then the war minister, Qin, who had lead the group of soldiers to the temple started having a run of very bad luck. He would trip over air, and even broke his nose once after smashing his face into the ground when he tripped over his own feet. He would drop things on his feet, and accidentally break things by falling into them. He even got a demotion for his retreat from the Air Temple.

This lead to rumors that the spirit had cursed the war minister. And all this lead to people keeping their distance from the Northern Air Temple. Zuko was ignorant to all this though, and just kept on moving. After seeing all the bodies left to rot on the grounds of the Northern Air Temple had him thinking that that’s what it would be like in all the Air Temples. And he wasn’t about to leave the bodies of his people and the Air Nomads to rot on the grounds of the temples. He made the decision that his new mission would be to go to all the temples and burry the bodies. So, he headed off towards the Western Air Temple…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're seeing the first real change to this world due to Zuko being the Blue Spirit right from the get go instead of being on the Wani for those three years before Aang comes back. Now the Mechanist and his people won't be bothered by the Fire Nation and he won't have to create tech for the Fire Nation.   
> This is my longest chapter for this story so far ^.^ and hopefully I'll be able to get the chapters even longer. I'm trying to make these chapters longer because I don't like giving you guys really short chapters, but I know the chapters are gonna be a tad bit short for now until we catch up to the cannon time. Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter!!!


	5. The Western Air Temple and the Sun Warriors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko visits the Western Air Temple and the Sun Warrior Temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or any of its characters. I’m just borrowing them.  
> AN: I am so sorry for not getting this chapter out last weekend. I have been busy as hell working on a painting for my aunts birthday I just haven’t had much time for writing, and I’ve been working on this and several other stories as well.

_~(^.^)~_

**_The Blue Spirit_ **

_Chapter Five: The Western Air Temple and the Sun Warrior ruins_

_~(^.^)~_

The Western Air Temple was filled with just as many bodies as the Northern Air Temple had been. And once again so many of them had been tiny little skeletons covered in scorch marks. And the place just felt so damn empty. Sometimes though he could swear he could hear the ghostly screams of those murdered here. It took him four weeks to bury all the skeletons, and set up little grave markers. He didn’t know the names of the people he’d buried, so he just left a few stones at the head of each grave.

It should have only taken two to three weeks to bury the bodies, but he had to delicately wrap each body in a blanket and lift it up the side of the cliff that the temple hung from before he could bury them. Just getting all the bodies to the top of the cliff had taken a full week and a half. Digging all the graves and putting the bodies in and covering them up and placing grave markers had taken two and a half weeks. There’d just been so many bodies to bury.

He didn’t stick around the empty temple for long after he was finished. It just felt wrong to be in the temple without any of it’s inhabitants being around. Plus, he had two more Air temples to get to. The next temple he wanted to head to was the Southern Air Temple. As he was leaving the Western Temple he ran into a dilemma though. The quickest way from the Western Temple to the Southern Temple was through the Fire Nation. But he’d been banished from the Fire Nation. If he set foot there he could be executed for treason. And going around the Fire Nation would add an extra three weeks to his trip.

He debated the dilemma for all of about twenty minutes before deciding he’d just go through the Fire Nation. He was in disguise anyway, so it’s not like anyone would recognize him. Plus, the Sun Warrior temple wasn’t that far from the Western Air Temple, and he’d always wanted to visit the Sun Warrior temple but had never had the chance to.

So, he took off towards the Sun Warrior temple. It only took him a day and a half to get there. The temple was just as empty as the Air Temples, but the place had a different feel to it. Where the Air Temples felt haunted with a sad stifling air to them, the Sun Warrior temple had a mysterious uplifting feeling to it. The working booby-traps had caught him by surprise, but he managed not to impale himself on spikes in the pit that had formed when he’d accidently pulled a trip wire.

And then he’d found an ornate door that only opened when the sun hit a sun stone on the solstice. He managed to trick the door into opening by using one of his Dao swords to reflect the sun light onto the stone. The room behind the door was quite small, and mostly empty. The only thing that had been in the room was a set of statues that formed a circle in the middle of the room. Each statue was posed in a different form.

It took him five minutes to figure out that he had to follow the statue movements around one side, but that he would need a second person to do the other set. He bypassed that by grabbing several large stones and placing them on the spots where the second person would have had to stand. And then a pedestal with a large golden egg on top of it had risen out of the floor. He became entranced by the golden egg. It felt warm and inviting, and he couldn’t help but pick it up.

Which had been a bad idea, because almost immediately afterwards this black and green sticky goo started filling up the room. He became trapped in the goo, with his face sticking out of a grating in the ceiling of the room. He wound up being stuck there for the rest of the day before a group of people in Sun Warrior clothing showed up as the sun was setting.

They’d freed him from the sticky goo, while he sat there staring at them with wide eyes. The Warriors had introduced themselves to him. At this point it just felt wrong to talk once more, so he just stayed silent, opting to trace his name in the dirt instead. The Warrior had brought him to the other side of the temple, where a large fire burned in a flame shaped fire place.

“This is the eternal Flame. It was given to us by the dragons,” The leader of the Warriors stated, bending a bit of fire from the fire place.

The man turned towards Zuko and handed the flame over to him.

“You will take this up the mountain. Do not let it go out,” The man ordered, nodding his head towards the path leading up the mountain.

Zuko wasn’t sure why they wanted him to do this, but he wasn’t going to argue with the group of people he’d thought extinct. So up the mountain he went, being careful not to let the fire die. It felt weird bending fire once more. He hadn’t fire bent since his Agni Kai all those months ago. But something about holding this tiny little flame just felt right. It took him all night to climb the mountain. He reached the top just as the sun was rising once more, and found that the Sun Warriors where waiting for him. They stood in a circle at the bottom of a set of stone steps that lead up to a stone walkway between two rock outcroppings.

The leader of the Warriors took a small piece of the fire he held in his hand and spread it out to several of the men, who formed rings of fire with what they where given. Several people started pounding on a set of drums, and he felt a chill run up his spine at the sound.

“You will face the masters Ran and Shaw,” The leader stated, motioning him towards the stairs.

He eyed the leader for a moment, his mask hiding his confused expression. He had no idea why they had him walk all night up the mountain with the flame in his hand, or why they wanted him to meet their masters. He shook his head, and walked towards the stairs, deciding to just meet these masters. The drum beats got faster the closer to the top of the stairs he got. And then he was standing in the middle of the walkway between two caves and the drum beats came to a crescendo, then stopped. And then suddenly two large dragons, one red and one blue, came flying out of the caves and began flying in circles around him. He almost let the fire in his hands go out in his surprise.

The dragons circled him, the wind whipping around him with their movement. Something about the way they moved reminded him of the statues in that small room. And something in him told him to dance along side the dragons. It only took a few moments to complete the dance, and then the dragons where on either side of him, staring down at him. They opened their mouths and streams of multicolored fire shot out and swirled around him in a tornado of fire.

He stared up at the multicolored flames in awe. Warmth and understanding flooding through him. Fire wasn’t anger and hatred. It wasn’t destruction and death. It was warmth and happiness. And it was alive. Each flame was a little life that you could hold in the palm of your hand. And while yes, fire could kill and destroy, that wasn’t what it truly was. Fire pathed the way for new things to take the place of the old and dead things. And as long as it was controlled it wouldn’t hurt anyone. Everything he’d ever been taught about fire and fire bending was a lie.

The multicolored fire receded and the dragons retreated back to their caves. Zuko walked down the steps and rejoined the Sun Warriors, feeling like new. He spent the rest of the day and that night with the Sun Warriors. They showed him a few fire bending forms that had been lost to the Fire Nation for generations. They shared stories of the history of the Sun Warriors and the dragons throughout the night. And the next day he left the Sun Warrior temple, feeling lighter than he’d ever felt before…

_~(^.^)~_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Well this chapter ended on a happy note. Enjoy it now because next chapter is definitely not going to end happy. There's definitely gonna be some angst next chapter.


	6. A Water Bender in Fire Nation Lands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue Spirit!Zuko meets a familiar face while traveling through the Fire Nation. It does not end well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or any of it’s characters. I’m just borrowing them.  
> AN: All aboard the angst train!!!  
> Warning: Mentions of torture, dead bodies, and all the things that come with Hama and her brand of Fire Nation imprisonment induced crazy.

_~(^.^)~_

**_The Blue Spirit_ **

_Chapter Six: A Water Bender in Fire Nation Lands_

_~(^.^)~_

Being back in the Fire Nation again was weird. After having been through most of the Earth Kingdom in the past couple months, he could see the stark difference between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation. In the Earth Kingdom most towns and villages were small and ragged. Houses where falling apart, and the roads weren’t even really roads, just dirt paths. The clothes the people wore were filled with holes and were falling apart. And the people could barely afford to feed themselves. Of course, you had a few towns that were prosperous and filled with rich people, but those were few and far in between. The only truly wealthy towns he knew of in the Earth Kingdom was Ba Sing Se, Omashu, and Gaoling.

But in the Fire Nation most of the towns and villages were quite large, and rich. Pristine buildings, and stone pathed roads. The people wore well fitting clothes made of silks and fine threads. And there was plenty of food to go around. He knew the reason for the stark difference. The war had taken it’s tole on the earth Kingdom. Fire Nation soldiers moved through Earth Kingdom lands, burning towns and crop fields at will. Taking over towns, and killing and imprisoning people. And most of the resources that the Earthing Kingdom produced went to funding and feeding their army, leaving almost nothing for the towns and villages.

Knowing that his Nation was responsible for all this left a bad taste in his mouth. He wanted so bad to fix everything, to fix the world. But he was only one person. He could only do so much on his own. But he was going to do the best that he could to help end this war. To save the world, and fix the damage his Nation had done to the world.

Traveling through the wealth of the Fire Nation felt wrong after spending so many months traveling through the poorest parts of the Earth Kingdom. For a week he traveled on foot through different happy, and wealthy towns, feeling out of place among his people. And then one day he came to a village that felt different from the others. There was an air of fear that permeated the whole town. And people had the windows of their homes and shops boarded up.

With just one look at the town he could tell something was wrong. This town had the same feel to it that the towns in the Earth Kingdom had when the people knew Fire Nation soldiers were headed their way. But that wasn’t the case with this village here in the Fire Nation. There were no soldiers coming to take over the village, so he had no clue as to what was wrong with this town. So, he stuck to the shadows of the village, watching and listening. He listened as the people talked about the disappearances. How it happened during the full moon. And how once someone went missing they never came back.

Anger coursed through him as he listened to these people talk. As he heard the fear in their voices. He might be angry with the Fire Nation for what they were doing to the whole world. But that was the fault of the people in charge, the ones giving out the orders. These people were civilians who had nothing to do with the war. Who had nothing to do with the deaths and the imbalance of the world.

They were his people, and he had to protect them just as much as he had to protect the people of the other nations. So, he stuck around the village for the next week, waiting for the full moon. He waited in the shadows, watching and observing all the people who lived in the village. And there was one person among all of them that caught his eye. The old woman who owned the Inn. Something about her just felt off. So, he kept an eye on her, watching everything she did.

And then the full moon came, and he watched as the old woman, who he’d learned was named Hama, silently move out of the Inn and towards one of the smaller houses at the edge of the village. He watched her as she raised her arms towards the house, and began moving her hands in a bending form. He recognized it as a water bending form thanks to his time spent with the Swamp Benders. After a few moments, a man came walking out of the house. His movements were jerky and there was a panicked look on his face.

It took him a few minutes to work out that Hama was bending the blood in the mans body to make him do whatever she wanted. It made a weird sort of sense really. Blood was just a liquid; it was basically water. So, any water bender could theoretically bend blood. He watched as Hama used her bending to walk the man up the mountain, and into a cave.

He stood in the shadows a few feet from the cave entrance, his mind racing. Hama was obviously a water bender. A water bender who was living in the Fire Nation instead of in the North or South Pole. She didn’t have any Fire Nation features, which meant she wasn’t a war child of some sort. She had tan skin, and ocean blue eyes. Which meant she was full blooded Water Tribe. He knew of the raids on the Southern Water Tribe. How ships had sailed south and attacked the Southern Tribe. How the Fire Nation had either killed or captured all the water benders of the Southern Water Tribe.

So, it was more than likely that Hama was from the Southern Water Tribe. One of the people that Fire Nation soldiers had taken from her home and imprisoned here in the Fire Nation. And obviously, she had somehow managed to escape the prison she had been kept in, probably by using her blood bending. And she spent her time using that ability to kidnap innocent people and hold them hostage inside a mountain.

He could feel himself spiraling. He didn’t know what to do. These people that she was kidnapping didn’t deserve this. It was horrible what was done to Hama and her people, but that didn’t give her the right to turn around and do the same thing to people just as innocent as the Southern Water Benders. He knew he had to do something to stop Hama. He knew he had to save the people trapped in the mountain. But he wasn’t sure how to go about it.

He could free the people in the mountain and let them go back to the village and report that it was Hama doing all of this. But then she would be arrested and thrown back in a cell. And that just didn’t seem right. This whole thing started because she’d been thrown in a cell. To leave her to rot in a Fire Nation prison once more would just be cruel. But she couldn’t be allowed to roam free because she would just keep using blood bending to kidnap people. His only other option was to kill her. But he’d never killed anyone before. And he was only thirteen for Agni’s sake!!! How was this all on him?!

He paced back and forth through the trees a few feet from the entrance to the cave for the rest of the night. Going back and forth on what he should do. Turn her in and let her be put back in a Fire Nation Prison, or kill her himself and ensure she didn’t suffer anymore at the hands of his people while also ensuring she couldn’t hurt anyone else as well. He watched as the full moon descended from the sky, and Agni rose above the horizon.

By the time Hama emerged from the cave he knew what he had to do, he just didn’t like it. He silently unsheathed his Dao, and crept up behind the old woman. He sent out a silent prayer to Agni, Tui, and La asking for forgiveness for what he was about to do. And then he plunged the Dao into Hama’s back, and straight through her heart. The woman gasped in pain, then crumpled to the ground, pulling him and his Dao with her. He could feel tears falling down his face as he pulled the Dao out of Hama’s back with a wet squelching noise.

He took a moment to clean off his Dao and return them to their sheaths, and snatch the ring of keys off of Hama’s belt before he headed towards the cave. His limbs felt as heavy as his heart, and the world around him seemed to have turned ashen. All the colors around him seemed to have dulled to grey and he felt like he was moving through a fog. He trudged through the tunnel of the cave to a large metal door.

The keys jingled in his hand as he picked out the right one to unlock the door. And then the door was open and he was staring at dozens of people all hanging from manacles attached to the cave walls. Men and woman, all wearing ripped and baggy Fire Nation clothing. Their hair was matted and tangled, and their faces where sunken in and emaciated from lack of food. And the smell that permeated the air was horrible. It was a mixture between human excrement, death, and decay.

He moved into the room and began unchaining people from the walls. The people closest to the door weren’t in as bad a shape as the people further back in the room. Obviously, they were the people who had been here the shortest amount of time. He gently set each person down on the floor near the entrance as he went. The people were talking amongst themselves in quiet tired voices. He ignored them in favor of unchaining people.

And then he got to the dead bodies. The first one he got to looked like he had only been dead for a few hours. And for a moment he couldn’t help but wonder if he had come in here last night would this man still be alive? He dismissed the thought as soon as it came. If he had come in here last night during the full moon he could have wound up one of the people hung up on the cave wall. And then he wouldn’t have been able to help any of them.

He unchained each body, and gently set them down on the ground. And with each body he could feel his heart shatter even more. They were all in varying states of decay. And then there were the skeletons at the back of the cave. This was so different from the bodies at the Air Temples. Those bodies where skeletons that had been dead for a hundred years. It was sad, and it hurt his heart. But these where people who had been alive only hours to a few years ago. Something about that just made it seem all the worse.

Once all the bodies had been taken down from the walls he moved back to the front of the room. Several of the people where standing up on shaky legs, leaning against the wall. All the people looked up at him as he approached.

“Who are you?” One of the men asked.

Zuko realized it was the man who Hama had led into the mountain last night. Zuko knelt to the ground, and spelled out ‘Blue Spirit’ in the dirt with his finger.

“The old woman, Hama she-”

‘Is dead’ Zuko wrote into the dirt.

The man nodded his head at this, then glanced around at the others around him. He began talking with the others, trying to make a plan on how to get everyone out of the mountain. All of them save for the man who’d been brought in last night where all to weak to walk on their own. And it would take to long for him and Zuko to carry everyone out and down the mountain.

‘Why don’t you go to the village and bring people back with carts to carry them down the mountain back to the village’ Zuko asked the man who’d been brought in last night.

The man nodded his head at this, and took off out of the cave with a promise to be back as fast as possible. Zuko sat with the people in the cave for what felt like hours. And then there was a loud commotion outside the large metal door. Dozens of people filed into the room and began helping move Hama’s victims out of the cave. Zuko helped, gently setting people down in the carts that had been brought.

They even brought carts for the dead bodies, including Hama’s. Zuko escorted the people down the mountain, making sure they all got back to the village safely. And once he was sure that all the people where safe, he disappeared back into he shadows of the trees. He left the little village behind, continuing on his quest through the Fire Nation towards the Southern Air Temple. The whole world seemed to have lost it’s color, and he felt like he was empty inside. He’d killed someone today, and he wasn’t sure just how to deal with that…

_~(^.^)~_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: This is defiantly my longest chapter!!! And I’m so proud of it. Though I have to say I cried like a bitch while writing it. And now we have one more change that Zuko has made to the world before Aang and the Gaang show up!!! I feel bad for doing this to poor Zuko, but it had to happen. Up until now Zuko’s been able to help people without having to kill anyone. But in this case he had to kill Hama. It’s like Zuko thought, it wouldn’t be right to just lock Hama back up in prison again, it would just be torture for her.   
> But she also couldn’t be left alive and free because she would continue to hurt people. Unfortunately, the only truly humane thing that could be done was to kill her. But Zuko is our little Turtleduck, and while he’ll do what needs to be done to help people, it’s still going to affect him. So, he’s not exactly in the best mental state right now. But things will get better, it just might take a while. Hope ya’ll enjoyed the chapter!!!


End file.
